Dating back to the 2011-12 season, the Dallas Stars are now 4-20-2 in the second half of back-to-back games. The team added another one to the loss column last night in a 2-1 road loss to the Montreal Canadiens.
For the most part, I actually thought Lindy Ruff's team played a better game than it did in Monday's uninspiring 4-3 win over the woeful Buffalo Sabres. The difference last night was that the Stars were playing a team that is locked in defensively.
One night after blocking 28 shots in a shutout victory over the New York Rangers, the Canadiens blocked 29 Dallas shot attempts in a game where the Stars mustered 27 shots on goaltender Carey Price.
The Stars skated with more consistent focus and persistence for much of last night's game, but Price came up with whatever the defensemen and forwards didn't block down first. There were few second-chance opportunities, which had as much do with the Canadiens doing strong box-out work as did with the Stars not trying to get to the net.
Ruff took the risk of starting Kari Lehtonen on two consecutive nights. Due to injury concerns, Lehtonen historically rests in the second game of b2b matches, especially in the first half of the season. The big Finn, who was coming off a so-so game by his standards in the Buffalo win, was solid in making 22 saves. Lehtonen kept the Stars close, stepping up to make several clutch saves.
Montreal methodically built a 2-0 lead on tallies midway through the first and second periods.
First, with 7:58 left in the first period, the Habs pinballed home a double deflection that Lehtonen had no prayer of stopping. Raphael Diaz's right point shot was tipped by Michael Bournival, then re-directed again off Dallas defenseman Stephane Robidas and past a helpless Lehtonen.
Ill-timed turnovers between the bluelines have a been a season-long problem for the Stars, and came back to bite the team again on the second Montreal goal. Dallas turned the puck over at the Montreal blue line and the Canadiens counterattacked. The opportunistic Habs scored off the rush as an open Rene Bourque quickly potted a Diaz rebound.
Dallas got one back late in the second period on one of Montreal's few breakdowns. At the 17:27 mark, Brendan Dillon took advantage of an open passing lane to catch Cody Eakin in stride at the defensive blueline. Building up speed, Eakin carried the disc into the Montreal zone, found a spot to shoot and wristed a shot past Price from the slot.
That was as close as the Stars got. Dallas carried the territorial play for much of the third period, outshooting the Canadiens by a 9-3 margin, but could not solve Price again. The goalie made arguably his biggest stop of the game with about five minutes left in regulation, as he denied Jamie Benn on a three-on-one rush for the Stars.
There were several other big stops by Price throughout the course of the game. Not long before the Eakin goal, Price denied the dangerous Alex Chiasson from one of his frequent scoring spots near the net. He did the same again in the final period. Also in the third period, Price got just enough of Valeri Nichushkin shot to slow it before it dribbled over the goal line. Canadiens defenseman Francois Bouillon swept the puck to safety.
The Stars had only one power play in the game, to three for Montreal. With Douglas Murray off for interference with 8:12 remaining, the Canadiens penalty killers blocked a couple of shots and Dallas was unable to capitalize on the man advantage.
With 2:21 left in regulation, a scrum developed at the Dallas net. Brendan Gallagher and Lehtonen were respectively penalized for goaltender interference and roughing.
The Stars pulled Lehtonen with just under a minute left on the clock. Eakin had the game's final scoring chance but Price picked him with the glove.
Dallas returns home on Friday to host Colorado.
GAME NOTES
* Although the Canadiens successfully blocked down a host of shot attempts, the Stars did manage to get a healthy number of point shots through to the net, including a combined nine between Alex Chiasson (five) and Sergei Gonchar (four). This is where the Montreal box-out work really stood out, as Price had a good look at the puck.
* With the exception of Cody Eakin having a brutal night in the faceoff circle (5-for-15), the Stars actually did pretty well in the dot on this game.
* There was a first-period fight between Bouillon and agitating Stars forward Antoine Roussel. The fight marked Roussel's fourth of the season; lmost on the Dallas team.
* I did not have an opportunity to post lineups in my gameday blog yesterday, as I was at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia to cover the Flyers-Ducks game. These were the most common Dallas forward combos and defense pairings in last night's game:
Jamie Benn – Seguin – Cole
Whitney – Eakin – Chiasson
Nichushkin – Horcoff – Peverley
MacDermid – Fiddler –Roussel
Dillon – Robidas
Daley – Gonchar
Goligoski – Jordie Benn
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